Thu, Apr 21, 2016 page3

• Activists assert Aborigines’ hunting rights as ‘cultural’

  CONSISTENCY: Proposed amendments to a wildlife conservation act are not intended to bring about change, but make it uniform with an existing act, an activist said

  • By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
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  Activists yesterday reasserted Aborigines’ rights to hunting amid controversy over draft amendments that would allow Aborigines to hunt protected animals for self-use or non-profit purposes, with activists saying that hunting is a cultural activity not a setback to wildlife conservation.

  The Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) allows Aborigines to hunt wildlife for cultural or ritual purposes. Draft amendments to the act, which the legislature’s Economics Committee proposed on Friday last week, would broaden the scope of Aboriginal hunting to include “self-use” or “non-profit” hunting.

  The amendments have become a point of contention between animal conservationists and Aboriginal activists, as conservationists believe the amendments create a loophole for poachers.

  Indigenous Youth Front member Savungaz Valincinan, a Bunun, said the conflict has arisen from a misunderstanding of Aboriginal rights and laws.

  The Aboriginal Basic Act (原住民基本法) already stipulates that Aborigines can hunt and harvest wildlife for self-use and non-profit purposes, and the amendments were simply proposed to make the Wildlife Conservation Act consistent with the Aboriginal Basic Act, Valincinan said.

  “Aboriginal hunting is not poaching, which is punishable by law regardless of the ethnicity of the poacher. Society must remove the stigma of Aboriginal hunting so we can move on with conservation of Aboriginal culture and environment,” she said.

  Aborigines have their own environmental ethics, which limit hunting activity to ensure animal conservation, animal welfare and sustainable environment, she said.

  Council For Farangaw Autonomy chairperson Raranges Hoki Na Tungaw said Aborigines live in harmony with nature, but the government introduced market economy and exploited natural resources on a massive scale.

  He said Aboriginal hunting is unfairly blamed for causing environmental damage when development and fishing activities are still happening across the nation.

  “The ideals of conservation should not be imposed on Aborigines when what has damaged the environment is not Aborigines,” he said.

  Aborigines have gradually lost their cultures and environmental ethics to modern ideas of market economy and development, and the best way to conserve Aboriginal cultures and wildlife is to restore Aboriginal environmental ethics, he said.

  “Aboriginal hunting is not the cause of massive deaths of animals. The government’s laws distort a cultural activity as a mass killing of animals and an environmental disaster, which is immoral,” Taiwan Indigenous Conserved Territories Union convener Kavas Takistaulan said.

  To facilitate transitional justice, the government should recognize Aborigines’ rights to self governance and maintaining traditional ways of life in their traditional territories, so they can conserve culture and biodiversity at the same time, he said.
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